Buoys are used on vessels for a variety of purposes, such as to mark the location of a submerged object by connecting the buoy to the submerged object via a line.
In the crabbing industry, a buoy is connected to one end of a length of line with the other end of that line connected to a crab pot. The crab pot is placed in the water and, due to its weight, comes to rest upon the ocean floor. The buoy floats upon the ocean surface and allows the subsequent recovery of the crab pot by providing a convenient marker for the line connected to the submerged crab pot. Sometimes two floating buoys are used as markers, with a length of line interconnecting them.
During recovery of the crab pot, the fishing vessel motors past the floating buoy and a member of the crew, using a hand rope with a grappling hook, retrieves the line attached to the buoy without the vessel stopping. The crew member must throw the grappling hook, hook the buoy line with the grappling hook, pull the hand rope in, grap the hooked buoy line with his hands, wrap the buoy line around a winch on the vessel's deck and then start operating the winch, all while the vessel is moving and before the slack in the buoy line is lost and the full weight of the crab pot is borne by the buoy line. The crab pot, which can weigh as much as
600 pounds, is then winched to the surface and the crabs therein recovered.
During manual retrieval of the line attached to the floating buoy, the buoy is usually pulled upon the surface of the water producing a drag upon the retrieved line and requiring a greater exertion by the crew member prior to placing the line around the winch. Not only does this wear the crew member out, it slows him down and lengthens the time required to manually retrieve the line and wrap it around the winch. As such, the drag created by the buoy thus increases the likelihood that the crew member will not be able to successfully wrap the line around the winch before all line slack is lost and the crew member finds himself handling the full weight of the loaded crab pot. In such a situation, he will be pulled overboard if he does not let go of the line. Of course, this means the vessel must turn around and make another pass by the buoy so it can be hooked again and successfully retrieved. Since the drag requires greater exertion by the crew member to retrieve the line and slows him down, the vessel must reduce its speed through the water during retrieval of the line to accommodate the crew member.
Therefore, there is need in the art for an improved buoy with reduced drag. The present invention provides such a buoy, while further providing other advantages.